A basic guide to reading and vetting scientific articles
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While the pandemic exacerbated mistrust in scientists, confidence in research has been slowly eroding for decades. This series of stories peels back the curtain to give you a behind-the-scenes look at the people and processes behind scientific research, with the hope that understanding how science works will help you decide when to be a skeptic (and how to become a better one).
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A basic guide to reading and vetting scientific articles
Critically reading and understanding a scientific article is a hard-earned skill that researchers learn through decades of experience.
However, as scientific research seeps into public discourse about vaccines and potential COVID-19 treatments and as science misinformation becomes more common, it’s important even for lay people to know what separates a good scientific article from a bad one.
If you don’t have decades to spare on becoming a scientific expert, here’s a crash course on how to understand the broad strokes of a paper and some red flags to look out for as you read:
Anatomy of a scientific paper
Most scientific papers are broken into five sections: abstract, introduction, methods, results and discussion.
Abstract: This is a summary of the entire article (typically) written in fewer than 250 words. This is what you should read if you want to understand the broad strokes of the article, but only have a couple of minutes.
Introduction: This is where researchers describe the topic they’re studying, what research has already been done on the subject and the author’s hypothesis.
Methods: This section gets into the nitty gritty details of how the scientists performed their experiment. These details help other scientists replicate the study.
Results: This is where you’ll typically find the study’s data, which may be present in tables or graphs.
Discussion: This is where researchers talk about the implications of their results and address any potential weaknesses or limitations of the research.
An insider tip for those who want to dip their toes in reading scientific studies: never read an article from the beginning to the end. Start by looking at the abstract, jump to the discussion and figures to get the gist and then go back through other sections for more detail.
Questions to ask about a scientific paper
Is the study published in a reputable journal (see impact factor)?
Are the authors of the paper affiliated with a well-known or established university? You might have to Google the university — there are many reputable, established schools that are also obscure.
Are the authors experts in this subject area? A physicist, for example, might not be a great source of information about COVID-19.
Evaluate the type of study — a case study of one participant is more prone to bias than a randomized trial with many participants.
Who funded the research? Are there potential conflicts of interest (e.g. is a soda company funding research on the potential benefits of sugar?) The study’s funding sources are often listed toward the end of the article.
Read science journalism that includes thoughts from independent scientists about the research’s strengths and limitations.
This story was originally published November 9, 2022 at 6:00 AM with the headline "A basic guide to reading and vetting scientific articles."
